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A word about word families 
Q: What is a word family?
A:  Word families, also known as rimes, are a group of words sharing a common phonic element. For example the -an word family includes the words tan, fan, ran. can, and so on.  Once a student has become familiar with the 37 most common word families, they can use them to decode about 500 words. (Wylie & Durell, 1970)
Q:  How does learning to read through word families work?
A:. The English language is so confusing for beginning readers. Word families simply break down the words into predictable segments. For example. most times when we think of how we read, we think of sounding out each letter one at a time, but if a student can sound out the letters -ore they now know how to read the words bore, more, sore, wore, chore, score, shore etc.  
Q: What are the most common word families?
A:  These are the 37 most common word families according to Wylie and Durell, 1970. This list has been used again and again in early reading lessons. We have added some to the list to provide more  word families that are easy for the beginning reader.
 
--ab
cab, lab, blab, crab, flab, grab, scab, slab, stab


--ack
back, pack, quack, rack, black, crack, shack, snack, stack, track


--ag
bag, rag, tag, brag, flag


--ail
fail, mail, jail, nail, pail, rail, sail, tail, snail, trail


--ain
main, pain, rain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, Spain, sprain, stain, train


--ake
bake, cake, fake, lake, make, quake, rake, take, wake, brake, flake, shake, snake


--am
ham, Sam, clam, slam, swam


--an
can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, bran, plan, than


--ank
bank, sank, yank, blank, crank, drank, thank


--ap
cap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap, clap, flap, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap


--at
bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, brat, chat, flat, spat, that


--ay
day, may, pay, say, clay, play, pray, spray, stay, tray


--eed
feed, need, seed, weed, bleed, freed, greed, speed


--ell
bell, fell, sell, tell, well, yell, shell, smell, spell, swell


--est
best, guest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, chest, crest


--ew
dew, few, knew, new, blew, chew


--ick
kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, brick, chick, click, stick, thick, trick


--ight
knight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, slight


--ill
fill, hill, pill, will, chill, drill, grill, skill, spill, thrill

--in
bin, fin, pin, sin, win, chin, grin, shin, skin, spin, thin, twin


--ine
fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, wine, shine, spine, whine


--ing
king, ring, sing, wing, bring, cling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing


--ink
link, pink, sink, wink, blink, drink, shrink, stink, think


--ip
dip, hip, lip, rip, sip, tip, chip, clip, drip, flip, grip, ship, skip, strip, trip, whip


--ob
knob, mob, rob, blob, slob, snob


--ock
knock, lock, dock, rock, sock, block, clock, frock, shock, stock


--op
cop, hop, mop, pop, top, chop, crop, drop, flop, plop, shop, stop


--ore
bore, more, sore, tore, wore, chore, score, shore, snore, store


--ot
got, dot, hot, knot, lot, not, plot, shot, spot


--out
grout, scout, shout, spout, sprout


--ow
cow, how, now, brow, chow, plow


--uck
buck, duck, luck, cluck, stuck, truck


--um
gum, hum, drum, plum, slum


--unk
junk, chunk, drunk, shrunk, stunk, trunk


-y
by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, shy, sky, spy, try, why


Reference: Wylie, R.E., & Durrell, D.D. (1970). Teaching vowels through phonograms. Elementary English: 47, 787-791.
 
Our additions
--ed
Ted, Ned, led, fed, bed, red, sled, fled 
 
--it
kit, hit,  sit, fit, quit, bit, pit, lit 
 
--ig
pig, wig, jig, fig, big, dig, Mig
 
--og
dog, fog, frog, hog, jog, log
 
--ug
bug, rug, hug, mug, tug, dug, slug